Welcome, if you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or subscribe to our email newsletter. Thanks for visiting!
Sarah Palin is a fine pick for VP. She is great on the issues closest to my heart – strongly pro-life and pro-marriage. Early indications are that she’s very good on judges. Her fifth child, Trig, was born in April – he was diagnosed with Down Syndrome in the womb – they took the pregnancy to term and she proclaimed him “perfect” upon birth. She has received universal praise from conservative Christian and evangelical leaders and interest groups.
Politically, she’s a calculated risk. I’m not worried about any Dan Quayle-style stuff coming out of her background. Obviously she’s not very experienced in terms of time in office – less than 2 years as Gov of Alaska, and before that mayor of a town of 5000. So it will tough to attack Obama as inexperienced – although 2 years running a state is much more valuable than 4 years as a US Senator, 3 of which were spent running for president. Moreover, in that time he has done nothing, whereas her time as governor and before that as mayor and ethics commissioner show a real record of leadership and reform. I assume the McCain Camp is thinking, Hillary staked her all on saying Obama was too inexperienced to be President, and voters still chose him. So McCain needed a “game-changer” who could reinforce a reform message (and Drill Drill Drill!).
Obviously Palin is meant to reach out to the Hillary voters and women while at the same time energizing the base and reinforcing a reform message. She’ll help with Hillary voters some, but not the same as a Kay Bailey Hutchinson or Meg Whitman. She will absolutely energize the base – reading my friends’ facebook statuses, it’s all excitement. I’m skeptical that McCain can out “reform” Obama, Mr. Change personified. I suppose the “reform” mantra is meant to offer a two-fer: with McCain, you get experience to keep us safe AND the reform we need.
Finally, I think she and her husband will provide a good story and be good communicators. She’s pretty, she hunts and fishes and likes moose burgers. He’s a champion snowmobile racer. “NASCAR dads” will eat that up. She drives a jetta to work and is a self-described “hockey mom.” She used to be a TV sports journalist, so she’s comfortable with the camera. She beat a sitting Republican governor in the primary and a former Democrat governor in the general in ‘06 to become governor, so clearly she’s a good campaigner. Looking at the electoral map, hopefully she can make a particular impact in Colorado as a fellow Westerner.
So on the whole, I’m quite pleased. They held the leak until an hour before the event, the event was packed, McCain was smiling, they stole the news cycle from Obama’s acceptance speech. Now we just have to hope that Hurricane Gustav does not through the GOP convention’s schedule down the drain and we’ll be okay … This race doesn’t really start until Sept. 10 – that’s the first poll I’ll take seriously.
Last 5 posts by Daniel- Bradley Day in D.C. - June 5th, 2009
- A Path Forward on Adjuncts at MU - May 12th, 2009
- The Death of Northeast Republicans Greatly Exaggerated - May 6th, 2009
- Joe Biden visits Georgetown Law - April 22nd, 2009
- What's Jim Doyle's Approval Rating? - April 17th, 2009
Tags: McCain, Sarah Palin, VP
May I ask: How many Reagan speeches did you looked at before typing this post with a straight face? I will give you the some credit if the polls show she benefits McCain. But, I don’t believe you actually think she is a good vice president or that being governor of a small state means more than being a Senator of a bigger one.
May I ask: How many Reagan speeches did you looked at before typing this post with a straight face? I will give you the some credit if the polls show she benefits McCain. But, I don’t believe you actually think she is a good vice president or that being governor of a small state means more than being a Senator of a bigger one.
And when will this nonsense about Obama being an empty suit stop? You guys need a different Rove talking point.
Does Palin have any positions or thoughts on the major foreign policy matters of the day? All I’ve heard so far is that she hasn’t thought much about Iraq and that she heard about the surge on the news. Hell, last month she didn’t even know what the Vice President did.
This is a joke.
I’m also quite pleased with Palin, but I disagree that “Palin is meant to reach out to the Hillary voters and women.” There’s no way pro-choice, woe-is-me, liberal women are going to go for a pro-Life, NRA gal… everyone knows that. Moreso than attracting the Hillary fans, I think they’re after the blue collar folk… union husband, ran a business, all her outdoorsy traits…
Here’s a nice excerpt from tomorrow’s Washington Post
“But the most important question Mr. McCain should have asked himself about Ms. Palin was not whether she could help him win the presidency. It was whether she is qualified and prepared to serve as president should anything prevent him from doing so. This would have been true for any presidential nominee, and it was especially crucial that Mr. McCain — who turns 72 today — get this choice right. If he is elected, he will be the oldest man ever to serve a first term in the White House.
In this regard, count us among the puzzled and the skeptical. Not long ago, no less a Republican strategist than Karl Rove belittled Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as a potential running mate for Barack Obama, noting that picking him would appear “intensely political” because Mr. Kaine’s experience consisted of only three years as governor preceded by the mayoralty of Richmond, which Mr. Rove called “not a big town.”
People here have no problem accepting hypocrisy from their own smear machines. It is so much more fun to ask them what they think of the pick without citing evidence of why it is so bad.
Uh, since Richard mentioned “Rove talking points,” I might as well toss this out there. Karl Rove on “Face the Nation” on Augustr 10, 2008, pre-emptively dissing Obama’s veep choice:
“With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he’s been a governor for three years, he’s been able but undistinguished. I don’t think people could really name a big, important thing that he’s done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I’m really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States.’”
So, a mere three years as governor and being mayor of a city that was merely the “105th largest” renders someone inadequate for the office of the V.P.–but someone else with only a year and a half as governor (of a state with a population smaller than some cities, I might add) and time spent as mayor of a town of fewer than 10,000 people, whose only major accomplishment was to embroil herself in not one but two perjury/abuse of power cases involving wrongfully firing people who ran afoul of her family members, is a good choice?
Huh. Go figure.
Meanwhile, I hope somebody explains to Mrs. Palin what the office of the VP entails, given that she asked (apparently quite sincerely) in a TV interview, “What is it exactly that the Vice President does every day?”
Well Kat, do you know what the office of the VP does?
SPECT3R, that is your comeback? Boy, are Republicans in trouble this year.
I think to assume that Sarah Palin cannot do her job well because she has not done it for years and years is ridiculous. By that standard, no company would ever hire a new college grad.Or is this really because she does not have vast experience with the the dark hole of self-serving “below the radar” politicking that has defined Obama’s short and Biden’s long political resumes?And why would anyone think she knows nothing about Iraq? With a son in the Army, who doesn’t think she hasn’t done research on where he most likely would be sent?
I very much liked what I heard yesterday from her acceptance speech in Dayton. I agree with her positions and admire her accomplishments, both political AND personal. She came across as a warm, strong person who actually got into politics not as a stated career goal, but as a way to make changes in her school, community, and state. And it is precisely because she doesn’t fit the typical mold of the Hilary-style, prickly, bitchy, assertiveness-trained woman that she will appeal to women voters like myself!!
I’d be willing to bet that Kat does know what the VP does, but it’s a moot point since no one is going to ask Kat to be one next month.
Let’s hope Sarah Palin reads a middle school civics book between now and November.
Yes, SPECT3R…unlike Mrs. Palin, I actually paid attention in Social Studies in middle school.
The VP serves as President of the Senate, and casts the tiebreaker vote in cases of a tie. (In other cases, the VP has no vote.) That is the only job of the VP specified in the Constitution, although the president may designate certain minor executive tasks to the VP if he so chooses. And of course, if the president dies, the VP becomes president.
Gov. Palin is a total joke. And one word of advice to McCain–if you want to win Florida, don’t let the word get out that she has been an active Buchanan supporter for over a decade. Yuck.
Alright… just checking Kat. You just told me that the office of VP isn’t that demanding. How hard is it to cast a vote and look good on camera? What is the likely hood of a President to quit or die in office? Pretty slim…
My opinion is that Joe Bidon is a joke but that is my opinion. If we both agree that our opposition’s VP is a joke than we agree. The VP choice is just along for the ride.
How about that Edwards VP pick from last time? He was a pretty shady character… and Lieberman is now siding with the GOP. The democrats have some pretty good picks I’d say…
Richard, you need to take a chill pill… you take this blog way too seriously.
I take this blog seriously because I consider it an accurate reflection of sane conservatism. You guys may be just some blog with posts written by college graduates, but you have a solid grasp of what Republicans are thinking. I would like to think that the makers of this blog would like readers to take this sites perspectives, on the issues, seriously. But, maybe I just misread the intentions of the the triumvirate.
SPECT3R–what is the likelihood of a 72 year old with recurring melanoma dying in the next four years? Are you sure you want the realistic odds on that one? I’ll give you a hint: it’s far from “slim”.
Lieberman was a lousy VP choice and a total dirtbag who I’m ashamed to admit is a fellow Jew, and yes, I thought that at the time. I’m downright glad he joined your side–you can keep him. As for Edwards, the “shady character,” I assume you are referring to the Rielle Hunter affair? The one that happened two years after the 2004 election? Not to mention that a certain current major party nominee for president was a serial cheater, which I guess makes him “shady” as well…
Of course, neither Edwards nor Lieberman (for all his failings) were ever investigated for abuse of power either, and neither of them signed on for the job without knowing what it entailed (or with a caveat that they would take the job only if they could get something out of it for their home state), but a certain Gov. Palin did. So make of that what you will.
Gov. Palin is Exhibit A of tokenism, at best. But hey, if you want to follow the Mondale route, I have absolutely no objections.
Ronald Reagan wasn’t exactly youthful when he took office either… and he was shot! Just let it all play out… from what I read people are wrapped up with the details and aren’t seeing the bigger picture. McCain picking Palin energized his campaign… Republicans are excited about the ticket. Obama / Bidon proved to be pretty awesome last week… I’m going to let it play out and see what happens. This is quite a [a href = http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews1547.html"]horse race[/a] so far.
Yeah, this election is shaping up to be quite exciting (although if you look at the state by state polls, the electoral vote standings at the moment aren’t nearly as close as the national polls suggest). I think the Palin choice is going to hurt McCain in the long run, but it does make for some entertaining political drama in the short term. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the Republican convention this week, what with Gustav and Palin and the pressure of living up to the Dem convention standard.
But yeah, I’m having a grand old time watching it all play out so far…although come October, I’ll probably feel differently. This is, after all, the future of the country at stake, not just some TV show.
I don’t agree, Kat, that the electoral vote is any less close than the national polling. Remember, to win McCain needs only to hold all the Bush states. He’ll have to fight to do so in Colorado, New Mexico, and Ohio, admittedly (it looks like Virginia and Florida are increasingly safe). But he’s also putting up a real battle to steal two Kerry states – Michigan and New Hampshire.
It’s obviously way too early for any polling to really count, but for argument’s sake, Pollster has the following tallies:
CO: Obama +3
NM: Obama +7
OH: Obama +2
VA: Obama +2
FL: McCain +2
MI: Obama +5
NH: Obama +2
I have to agree with Kat on the electoral vote count (not Palin being a bad choice ofcourse). Have ya’ll seen this site? It tracks the state polls and counts up the electoral votes.
http://www.electoral-vote.com/
Ofcourse if anyone knows that to be unreliable for any reason than let me know.
I can’t attest to the reliability of electoral-vote.com (it does look like a pretty amateur site, though). But I do know that Pollster is highly credible.
Right now it shows 214 Strong Dem and 46 light and 112 Strong GOP and 64 light.
There is another really good electoral web site that I can’t remember right now. Once I track it down I’ll post it.
Ah, here it is: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/
Lots of information on fivethirtyeight, but looks a little convoluted. It does seem to have a wide variety of ways to see the information. I will defiantly go there for more in-depth looks at the information.
Actually, Daniel, Florida and Virginia are looking less safe of late–as are Nevada and Montana. And the Palin choice certainly will not help him in Florida.
Furthermore, Michigan has been holding a nice steady blue for a long time now. None of the Michigan Dems are at all concerned about it, especially since McCain didn’t tap Romney (the one thing that might have given him a shot).
The most reliable polling sites (RCP and fivethirtyeight.com) have had Obama with a consistent electoral majority since the primaries ended. I’m perfectly comfortable with the “closeness” of this race.
We’ll see where the electoral polls are when “Early Voting” begins. Exciting the base with Palin motives it to work for McCain. The grassroots is what is really lacking with the McCain campaign. He is doing everything right so far except on that level because people aren’t motivated. Bush won Ohio in 2004 because people were excited and wanted Bush to win… and Kerry developed a negative image on a number of fronts. It took excitement in all of the battleground states to accomplish it. Its just a matter of 2 mos that could change things… Obama has a lot going for him right now.
Yes, she does excite the base, doesn’t she? Unfortunately, she seems to simultaneously turn off independents and leaners. We’ll see what happens in the end.
As for McCain doing everything right…given that Sarah Palin is one of the things that Obama has going for him right now, I’m not so sure about that. But again, we’ll see.